Mawn

I wish we have this restaurant here in NJ. We were treated by my daughter and her fiancé, for my hubby’s bday in Feb. Ended up celebrating a lot of occasions, bday, our daughter’s March bday, retirement and travel. The food has a unique taste, that every single dish that they served, one at a time, from appetizer to desserts is delicious. 😋 In addition, I am not a fan of cilantro but I was able to eat their food, that I can taste cilantro in mosh of the dish, amazing flavor of food. Our server, Emmanuel (?) is really nice and very friendly and so all the staff. Our reservation was being made early January and got Feb 27th.

Honestly, I left underwhelmed. After months of trying to get a reservation and seeing all the hype, I expected something incredible. I ordered a lot, and while everything was flavorful, it all tasted the same — the soup, the chicken, the fish. Maybe if I’d walked in casually and ordered one or two dishes, I’d have liked it more. We are fortunate enough to have experienced travel to Cambodia and Thailand, and had flavorful food , and this just didn’t hit the mark.

The Mawn noodle soup had amazing broth and noodles! The papaya salad was excellent and so were the peanut noodles, along with the Amish fried chicken was my favorite!!! I also loved the funnel cake and the rice dessert! They went great together! We got the all star seafood rice and the shrimp which were very good as well. Waited 1.5 hours for a table and it was so worth the wait!!! You have to put your name on the list and wait for them to call (can’t give them your number).

Mawn has been on my list to try for years, and I finally won the reservation wars! It’s a quaint restaurant, hence why reservations are difficult. I think there’s around 15 tables. Service was good but not great, they weren’t very helpful with detailing the menu as much as other places I’ve been to have. Not very personable either. But nothing bad. We started with the soft shell shrimp. I loved the fish sauce and large pieces of basil. The texture did not bother me, although my mom said it was a bit too much for her. We also shared the Arianna agua fresca, absolutely delicious and a must order. So refreshing. We then had the thai crab fried rice. It was such a buttery and savory dish, the hot sauce on the side was definitely needed though! It felt a bit one note without it. The portion

This place is truly next level! It’s a cute, intimate spot that delivers incredible quality in every single dish. Because reservations are so hard to get, we decided to go all out—the four of us ordered way more than we needed just so we could taste almost everything on the menu. Every bite was worth the wait and the effort to get a table. If you can snag a spot, don't hesitate!